Detective Comics #1000 will make the Arkham Knight canon

DC Comics will celebrate Batman’s 80th anniversary and the 1,000th issue of Detective Comics — the series that the letters in “DC” stand for — by making a video game villain into comic book canon. The Arkham Knight is coming to Gotham City. DC Comics’ plans for Detective Comics #1000 look at lot like the company’s celebration of Action Comics #1000. This March, Detective Comics will publish a 96-page anthology issue and a big hardcover edition collecting Batman stories from across the character’s history as a companion edition. Where Action Comics #1000 had the debut of Brian Michael Bendis’ first published Superman story as a draw, it appears that Detective Comics #1000 will have that sweet, sweet video game connection. The issue itself will feature a core story that will “reveal a never-before-seen iteration of the Arkham Knight,” who first appeared as an alter ego of that series’ Jason Todd, a former Robin whose death had been faked by the Joker, so that Batman’s arch-nemesis could torture his young ally until he wanted nothing but revenge against his mentor. Of course, Jason Todd has existed in DC Comics canon since the ’80s, although with a different backstory. Also a former Robin, he now works as a mercenary known as the Red Hood, an identity he adopted after he was murdered by the Joker and brought back to life by a series of unrelated events. He’s since developed a resentment toward Batman, after finding out that the Caped Crusader had not… [Read full story]